Rebuilding Together
mrandolphadvance@gmail.com
Hurricane Helene left the area completely devastated after severe winds and tornadoes ravaged the area. Yet, in the midst of darkness, Altamaha EMC is helping to light the way to begin rebuilding the area, as they assure help is on the way.
“This is a disaster like this area has never seen before,” Altamaha EMC Manager of Marketing and Communications Tammye Vaughn emphasized. “Our system was totally destroyed. We did not have a single meter on our system that had electricity.”
She continued, “It’s not just us – Canoochee EMC to the east of us; Excelsior EMC in the Metter and Statesboro area; Little Ocmulgee EMC in Wheeler – were destroyed.”
Realizing the incredible scope of destruction as a result of Helene’s wrath, the cooperative began quick work to bring as much manpower to the area as possible to begin rebuilding the damaged system and restore power. This influx of manpower requires an incredible amount of infrastructure to support the hundreds of workers.
“We all have more people than even the site can house right now. We are bringing in people continuously. Every hour it changes – so, housing them is a problem; feeding them is a problem,” Vaughn continued.
Altamaha EMC, Canoochee EMC, and Little Ocmulgee EMC came together and sought help for the daunting task. “We hired a company called Storm Services, and they specialize in natural disasters. Whether it’s hurricanes, tornadoes, ice storms, mudslides, whatever it is – they go to these areas that are devastated. They have tents with cots that sleep people; they provide three meals a day; they have trailers with showers and shave stations. They do their laundry, too,” she explained.
According to Storm Services Site Manager Ben Hopkins, a team of 18 crew members work to help provide food service, fuel showers, sleeping arrangements, and restrooms to linemen who have come into the area to help EMC. “It’s a mini city – a base camp,” he remarked. “We park you, feed you, provide a shower, do your laundry, and give you a place to sleep.”
Hopkins noted that sleeping tents are air conditioned and have power, as the company uses generators to make the site as comfortable as possible. continued from page
He stressed the importance of these types of camps in the midst of disaster, as linemen and workers are away from their homes and families for a week or longer, making the comfort of a hot meal and somewhere to sleep very impactful.
“The linemen are the most important part of the rebuilding process, and it takes a lot of people to support these workers,” Hopkins shared.
He also stressed the rarity of finding communities with the ability to provide as large a space as the airport and fairgrounds for the site. “For the airport to have a place to put this many bucket trucks is very rare,” Hopkins emphasized. “The city has been very gracious to let us use this space. We are proud to be here to help, and we thank EMC for allowing us to come.”
According to Vaughn, the decision to place the site at the airport happened quickly on Friday morning, September 27. “The morning after the storm, [Altamaha EMC General Manager] George [McLendon] was trying to figure out where do we put these people and had an idea to put them at the closed runway at the airport. A few hours later, [Georgia Power Manager] Greg Hudgins chased [Vidalia Mayor] Doug Roper down – he actually by chance just pulled him over at our building and I saw them there talking. They came in, and that’s what Greg had wanted – we were all thinking the same thing,” she recalled.
Both companies made the decision to set up camp at opposite ends of the location, as Georgia Power is housing around 750 linemen in their disaster relief camp and Altamaha EMC is housing crews from all over Georgia and other states at the Storm Services site.
One of the most popular aspects of the site is the meal service. Three chefs onsite cook for the linemen each day. “They receive a hot breakfast, a boxed lunch so that they can stay on the job sites, and a hot dinner,” Hopkins added. “And it’s not hot dogs and hamburgers – we provide two proteins and vegetables.” One night, the workers were treated to steak and shrimp.
These accommodations have not only made linemen more comfortable in their time within continued from page
the community, but has also helped bring in more people to alleviate some of the stress from Altamaha EMC linemen, who are struggling from the recent disaster.
“We’re bringing in anyone who we can bring in. A lot of times, we can’t even get down the roads to fix all the lines, so that is why we are bringing in all of these tree cutting services to work ahead of us,” Vaughn stated. “Our employees don’t even have power at their houses. Some of our employees have trees on their houses and their families can’t even live there. But they’re working. I see the exhaustion and devastation on the Will Ledfords and Jeffery Lawsons every morning when they come in here because they’re not with their families and they are doing what they can. Today is Day 6 –- Jeffery Lawson got a toothbrush in his hand today for the first time since this storm started. He asked me yesterday, ‘Can you please get me a toothbrush and some toothpaste’.”
In the midst of tragedy, the community is reminding Vaughn and the workers of the giving nature of local residents. “We are so grateful to this community. Now that people are getting a sense of normalcy back to their lives, they’re bringing in things to us,” she explained. She said that children and young people had made encouraging signs thanking the linemen, donations of drinks and snacks had come in both to the site and to linemen on the street, and community members had even offered to feed the cooperative’s office workers and families when able.
“It means so much to us,” Vaughn tearfully remarked. “The good people that are in this community that are pulling together to help each other, to help their neighbors cut trees off their driveways, to bring water to the EMC, whatever it is they’re doing — God is at work in this community. And sometimes, God uses a storm to get our attention and bring us back together. I really think that just like after 9/11, that this storm is going to do that for the state of Georgia.” According to Vaughn, Georgia Power and Altamaha EMC help each other through a mutual aid agreement. “Even though Georgia Power and EMC are competitors, we have the same mission: for them to supply power to their customers, and for us to supply power to our members. That’s the only difference,” Vaughn commented.
“Normally, in a bad storm, Georgia Power gets all of their power restored before we do because they are on city streets and there are not as many trees. Their population is more condensed to a small area – they are not out on dirt roads and things like we are. That’s not even going to be the case this time because there was just such destruction in their area, too. Whoever gets continued from page
finished first will help the other.”
Both electric companies are also depending on the work of Georgia Transmission, whose mission it is to maintain the transmission power lines that bring power from the power plants to the people. “We are still waiting on some transmission lines to come back up. Transmission lines are what brings the power from the power plants to the distribution cooperatives, like us. So, until the transmission lines are up and running, it doesn’t matter how much work we do — the power is not going to come back on until that transmission line gets power,” she said.
Vaughn estimates that all but 4 of Altamaha EMC’s 18 substations are receiving power from these transmission lines. She also believes that around 5,000 of the over 21,000 meters on Altamaha EMC’s circuit have had power restored, but cannot be exact because of the widespread damage to the cooperative’s system. “All of our meters are automated. We communicate with our meters through the electric lines. So, we are not able to communicate with our meters to ‘ping’ them to know if electricity has been restored. So, it’s hard for us to say how many meters we have back on,” she explained.
She encouraged the public to remain patient, as she said that the cooperative was doing all that it could to help light the area. Vaughn also stated that internet through Altamaha Fiber was down as well, as the internet lines run parallel to the power lines. “Just because you get power back does not mean that you will have internet. The damage to the internet system was catastrophic, too, so it will be a while,” she said.
For those Altamaha Fiber members that have power restored, members may unplug and replug their wireless router to attempt to reboot the internet; if internet is still not available after performing this process, then the service is down until repaired.
“Electricity is a necessity – internet is a luxury,” Vaughn remarked, as she assured that the cooperative’s top priority was restoring power to its members.
Tammye Vaughn, Marketing and Communications Director for Altamaha EMC
CLEARING TRANSMISSION LINES – Georgia Transmission is using helicopters to cut trees off transmission lines. Saws hang from these helicopters and cut limbs and other debris off the lines.
A GRATEFUL COMMUNITY – Community members have been going out of their way to donate supplies and even make encouraging signs to thank linemen for the work they are doing in the area. (Shown) Braylie Davis (right) and Kash Waller (left) show two signs made to hang up at the Storm Services site.
SURVIVAL KIT – One citizen stopped to thank linemen working in the area with this homemade survival kit to show their gratitude.
CLEAN CLOTHES – A full service laundry is on site at the base camp in Vidalia to provide linemen with clean clothes daily
THE COBB CREW – Linemen from all over the nation, Texas, Missouri, Kentucky as well as Georgia have come to Vidalia to restore power. This group of 6 lineman is one group of hundreds that have come to join the relief effort and they hail from Cobb Electric in Marietta, Georgia.
GOOD NIGHT’s SLEEP – Storm Services Company provides air conditioned sleeping quarters for the many lineman that have come from all across the state and nation to help rebuild damaged power lines left in the wake of hurricane Helene. At press time more than 750 linemen were based in Vidalia.
STORM SERVICES – Altamaha EMC and Canoochee EMC in Tattnall County partnered and contracted with Storm Services Company of Cairo, Ga, to provide necessary services for the line crews that are working to restore power. The company set up a “mini city base camp” at the Vidalia Municipal Airport.
